The Stats on Women & Hollywood

Women comprise only 23% of film critics at daily newspapers. (San Diego State)

In 2007, women only comprised 15% of all directors, executive producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 250 grossing films. (San Diego State)

In 2007, only 6% of the top 250 grossing films were directed by women. (San Diego State)

In 2007, only 5 of the top 50 films starred or were focused on women.

Of the 6,833 single speaking characters in the film nominated for best picture from 1977-2006 only 27.3% were females. (USC)

Women make up 27% of TV writers and 19% of film writers (WGAW)

In 2006, less than a dozen of the 307 films eligible for an Oscar were women driven (EW).

In 2006, only 3 movies in the top 50 starred or were focused on women. (EW)

Why focus on Women & Hollywood?

Ever notice that most of the films in mainstream Hollywood are by and about boys? Women & Hollywood does and is tired of it. Women & Hollywood will focus on bringing attention to the films, TV shows, theatre and other entertainment that highlights women and our contribution to the culture.

This blog will focus on what's going on for women in Hollywood: what movies are being made; what directors are getting jobs; what projects actors are working; and will call attention to the continuous disparity that dominates Hollywood.

Hollywood

June 20, 2008

One thing that is important to me in this work is to go and meet as many female directors and producers as I can to get their voices and thoughts out to the world. I was able to meet director Sarah Gavron as she spoke to a group of reporters. Here are some things I learned about her, the film as well as some quotes.

This is her first full length feature film. She first started working in documentaries to tell a story and change the world but spent a lot of time fantasizing about fiction so she retrained herself to direct fiction.

Brick Lane was a daunting film for a number of reasons.

It was about a community that was outside me. It was based on this acclaimed novel with myriad fans. It was political from the interior told the story from a marginalized voice of Nazneen.

The story is about her sexual awakening but not about sex - it's about the effect it has. It can be more suggestive if you leave more to the imagination. One of the interesting things is the effect it had on the rest of her life and how it infused the rest of her life.

The film is not political in an obvious way. It's rare to see a film that just deals with the female perspective and narrows the world down to that.

These women's stories are not told so often. We see women who wear western dress who come to England to get rid of their cultural roots. You don't see the more traditional woman having a quieter journey.

Controversy:Three weeks into the shoot they got a threat as they were about to shoot exteriors on Brick Lane. Turns out it was a small fringe group who were citing scenes not even in the book and they tried to shut down production. It all blew up when Germaine Greer wrote that the Bangladeshi community ought not to see the film, then and in response Salman Rushdie said that was ridiculous. On top of everything the film was also selected to screen for a benefit that Prince Charles would attend. After all the press reports, the Prince backed out.

When talking about the lack of female directors:

The Time Out book of 1,000 films only had five by women. It's quite striking. I'm hopeful that things are changing. I think I am benefiting from the women a half a generation before me like Jane Campion, Mira Nair and Gurinder Chadha who made films that reached wider audiences. Now people are more open to more women centered and women directed films. I think there's a real sea change happening.